Rules Committee

[Demacus]

There seems to be a lot of confusion out there about the rules, and which rules apply to which specials, and how to play with the Any-Power stat, and... ect, ect.  I was wondering if anyone would be interested in forming a committee to sit down and maybe re-write/clean-up Overpower's current rules in an attempt to make things easier for new players.  I'm well aware that there are official rules that people not of this forum would expect opponents to play by, but since Overpower has not been officially anything but dead since 1998, I would think it would be safe to take things into our own hands, the hands of the people who still actually play, and re-work them into something that's not quite so scary and "WTF"-y.  I'm well aware that there are House rules, and everyone is entitled to their own, but I think the game would be strong if we, as a community, "weeded the unattended garden" so to speak.  Would anyone else be interested in sitting down to discuss rules, one at a time, and decide which rules are fine and which need to go, and how and when blanket rules apply, and make sure there are no exceptions, ect, ect?  You can respond here, and if enough people are interested we can decide then if we want to keep things public as we work out the kinks or just work them out through e-mails and post here what we have actually decided on.

[BigBadHarve]

I tend to agree, that there needs to be a clean up and consensus amongst players to play by a cleaner, and more intuitive rule-set.

Part of the plan for my own House Rule system was just that... simpler and cleaner rules. We just went a step further and got creative with some new ideas too to expand dynamics.

But I'm all for creating a group to discuss a common rule-set that's simple, fun and accepted by (in the very least) those of us who come up with it. So long as it's balanced and fair. That has to be the bottom line.

-BBH

[mattkoz]

It seems there would also be value in collecting a number of house rules together in a single document, not unlike the meta rules.

This would be a secondary priority to the proposed rules committee here.

[breadmaster]

it's a good idea, but how do we do it...by vote?

some rules i'm guessing we'd come near a consensus on (like EBs going by printed duration), but i suspect there would be quite a few disagreements regarding others

[Palatinus]

I think this idea has potential and I think the forum is an excellent place for it.  In order to have a greater general acceptance, though, we should make more of an effort to gather the overpower community to the site.  I think most of us know people who play but don't use the forum and there must be more people in the world who play or at least might want to dust off their cards if they were exposed to an active community like ours.

[Demacus]

@Bread - Vote amongst the committee would be the simplest option.  I know other, far more important, documents have been written using a similar method.  As for the disagreements, if, as a committee, something were voted into the rules, it would have to be by majority vote, so the few who would be against something would have to simply accept and adjust to the revision.  I would like to think there would be a fair amount of back and forth discussion before a vote were called, so everyone can decide where they stand.

@Matt -  I second that notion.  I would love to know how specific house systems work, as well as that Neo(?) system, the thing that makes some of the more expensive characters cheaper, ect...

@General Topic - I didn't suggest this as an overhaul of the system as a whole, just an idea to help clean things up.

Ex- DiD should simply be part of the rules of KO.  A character is KO'd if he has taken 20 points of cumulative damage, 3 different hits with different stats (not counting AnyPower), or, if they happened to be hit by both 3 stats AND 20 cumulative damage, they are KO'd regardless of any other factors.

Maybe that's not the wording we go with, but it's a much clearer, up-front ruling, which is better then having to hunt down rules most people might not know existed.  I know I'd never heard of the DiD ruling, even though I played up until the day Overpower died.  Because I wasn't and my friends weren't part of the pro-circuit, that one never came down the line.

[Demacus]

So, noone else interested in a committee?  Just BBH, Breadmaster, Palatinus, Mattkoz and myself?

[Palatinus]

I do wonder what Onslaught's opinion would be but he hasn't been on in like three weeks.

[gameplan.exe]

So, noone else interested in a committee?  Just BBH, Breadmaster, Palatinus, Mattkoz and myself?

I'm very interested, actually. If it can be somewhat slow, or deliberate. Basically, if I'm given time to really mull things over. As mentioned above, this sort of revision should take a lot of time, I think. But yeah, if there is room for a 6th, then count me in 

[Demacus]

@ Pala - The clean up idea is intended for those of us who keep running into contradictions, and want just straightforward rules.  He, as anyone else, is more then welcome to contribute to the clarifying of the rules.

@ncann - I'd like as many different points of view as possible.  I know you are pretty well versed on the rules as they stand, but I also know that you, like me, have some rules that just drive ya nuts.  I look forward to your feedback.

This process will take as much time as it needs to take until things are agreeable, and more importantly, understandable.  If anyone else is interested in tossing in their 2 cents, feel free to speak up now, or just keep tabs here and as we discuss a rule that you have strong feelings about, toss your 2 in then.

[BigBadHarve]

I agree with taking our time. And dealing with only one issue at a time. No need to rush.

Perhaps we could have a section of the board devoted to the Rule Committee discussions and votes.

-BBH

[DiceK]

I would be interested in participating.  From my point of view, I find it much more valuable to just have a standard.  We have so many people that "think" meta rules are in effect, or some variation of a house rule.  I ran into a situation where someone thought Vertigo was a one per deck.  I wasn't sure, to be quite honest, in today's world; however, I knew for sure it wasn't a meta rule and that it was never that way during the 90's.

For someone like myself, if I'm interested in actually winning games, I need to know I've got the rules down before I can even look at a way to maximize performance.

[Nate Grey]

I for one am so glad you guys are attempting a revision of the rules to try and make the game less confusing and simpler to understand. I've always been an advocate of a new rules-governing body and this forum is the ideal place for that. Since many of you here are way more experienced at the current rules of the games and have a better understanding of what rules contradict one another or severely limit playability of certain cards and characters, I am fine with following along with what you all decide while of course sharing my opinions and thoughts. I know for a fact that I do tend to agree with many of the House Rules BBH uses and would like to see those possibly adopted into the rules. I will be glad to participate in any way I can and provide feedback. 

[Demacus]

Any chance we could get a copy of your House Rules to peruse, BBH?  We should all probablly use the same resources for the Meta Rules, and the Basic Rules should be from Image, which I believe was the last basic rules update, and go from there.  Any thoughts or objections?

[Nostalgic]

I do wonder what Onslaught's opinion would be but he hasn't been on in like three weeks.

I actually was going to suggest this very idea well over a year ago, but due to the .... 'debates' people had with Onslaught and his puritanical views of the game, and his dislike for any house rules, basically saying they made the game inauthentic, I didn't even bother.

My thoughts were to have overpower have different 'play modes.'

Overpower 1.0 (Basic) Regular rules, metas, erratas, etc. (No marvels)

Overpower 2.0 (Marvels) Same as above plus Marvels.

Overpower 3.0 (Players Choice) All of the above plus a standardized set of house rules we the online community agree to. (which may change/simplify some of the above  )

Overpower 4.0 (Unlimited) Uses homemades in addition to the above.